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Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Grand Match news

I note that the Royal Club has sent out a general press release about the Royal Club.

"Many people have been enquiring about the possibility of a Grand Match taking place. All of us at the Royal Club are excited at the prospect of a Grand Match taking place for the first time since 1979.

The Royal Club has two approved sites based primarily on safety and accessibility. These sites are at Piper Dam near Dundee and on Loch Leven near Kinross. Both of these sites are being monitored closely but are covered in frozen snow, making play impossible at the moment. We need a slight thaw followed by another cold snap before these locations will become playable.

The site of the Grand Match in 1979, Lake of Mentieth, was removed from the list of approved locations a number of years ago for various reasons. There is a meeting later today to discuss how these issues might be overcome. The ice needs to be seven inches thick before play can commence and five inches before the Royal Club will mark out the rinks. All the locations currently have more than four inches of ice.